Bennett Bressman has “more compassion for small dogs than illegals” and claims his “whole political ideology revolves around harming journalists.” He uses the n-word freely and cracks jokes about the Holocaust.
Bressman also happens to have served as statewide field director for Nebraska’s Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts’ successful 2018 reelection campaign.
Bressman was identified as the person behind the username “bress222” in a server dedicated to fans of YouTube personality Nick Fuentes, a supporter of President Trump who took part in the August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left a protester dead.
“Yes, that was my profile,” said Bressman, 22, in a phone interview this morning. “I’m not denying it. I understand how they look really bad and are really bad on their face. I regret what I said.”
More than 3,400 posts made by Bressman were collected by Unicorn Riot, a nonprofit media organization that discreetly gathers and leaks the chat logs of white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups operating within the U.S.
Bressman said he joined the chat server in order to gain access to a call-in show hosted by Fuentes before he became wrapped up in the jokes and tough talk of “toxic group chat.”
In the chat logs, Bressman talked about mowing down Black Lives Matter protestors with his car, and defacing immigration lawyers’ offices with white nationalist symbolism.
Among his posts, which include the use of explicit slurs referring to African-Americans and Jews, Bressman posted to the chat:
“gays are scum of the earth.”
“my whole political ideology revolves around harming journalists.”
“i wanted a crater in israel not israel on a crater.”
Jews are a particular fixation for Bressman, who uses the term “kike’d” to refer to getting cheated out of money, jokes about the Holocaust and uses the triple parentheses or “echo” effect popularized by anti-Semites on the alt-right when mentioning Jewish individuals.
Bressman, on at least one occasion, considered using his organizing job to slip white nationalist agendas into state-level politics, describing a “brunch with my governor.”
In a statement to local media, NEGOP Executive Director Ryan Hamilton called Bressman’s views “abhorrent.”
“Had the Party been aware he harbored those beliefs, he never would have been permitted to volunteer and had the Party become aware of them during his time as an intern, he would have been terminated immediately,” Hamilton said.
Here are a few of his posts compiled by Anti-Fascist Action Nebraska:
“I am shocked and horrified to learn that this former staffer made these statements and I had no idea he harbored these feelings. He never expressed these views to me. I condemn these statements and this hateful worldview, which do not reflect my beliefs or the beliefs of Nebraskans,” Ricketts said.